ENOUGH OF THE BASTARDIZATION BY THE IMPS

The meaning of IMPS (Imperial Manila Presidential System) is that under the present Presidential form of government, all the Heads who can exercise and make the final decision in the 3 branches of the government, the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary, and its respective government instrumentalities, are all found in Manila, located in Luzon. Consequently, everything that the people need for their existence and survival can be finally decided in the Imperial Manila. That’s why, under the presidential government, the system is indubitably the root of all evils of corruption.

We often hear the Supreme Court rationalized the delay in deciding because it only has 15 Justices to decide the appealed cases of the entire country. We often hear the Executive branch that it cannot cope up and keep track of the various and varied problems and needs of the entire country because they have accumulated into gargantuan proportion. We often also hear the people complaining against the Legislative of its limited production because everything it does is just grandstanding in the guise of Senate Inquiry “in aid of legislation” and nobody can control the Senators because they are that high and mighty.

The situation, the condition of the Filipinos in the provinces, the slow foot action of the government, the system adapted have all the kinds of inconveniences you can imagine and all are a hopeless mess. The poorest of the poor in the poverty-stricken provinces can withstand no more of this process of bastardization done by the Imperial Manila under the Presidential form of government. In getting government aid and assistance, the big shots in the Imperial Manila choose their time to attend to you and let you wait at his discretion. In the meantime, everyone is pushing against one another trying to get ahead of the queue to be given what that official only wants to give. 

It is the poor who are always getting the shortest end of the stick. It’s the poor who are often the direct objects of exploitation. It’s the poor who are governed by ill-defined restrictive laws while the wealthy flouted with the rules as they can always get away by greasing the right palms. It’s the poor who are oppressed because they are weak. It is the poor who are always shoved around and the least to be noticed and attended to. This is what it will always be like under the President government and we will always bear the brunt of our undoing. And while we are suffering to the extremes, the landscape of the lords of lords in Imperial Manila is dotted with their mansions, their private jets, and chartered planes flew instantly for drop-of-the-hat trips anywhere in the world as their random spur of the moment, on frivolous caprices of intermingled lust dictates; and that the people turn tail and run at their omnipotent power, money, and invulnerability. WITH GOD’S BLESSING LET’S RALLY BEHIND FEDERALISM.

FEDERALISM HONESTLY AND SINCERELY EXPLAINED

This morning, August 10, 2018, I heard in the news that Sen. Pangilinan says the charter change on Federalism has no chance to be approved in the Senate because the majority of the Senators are opposed to it. These people who have expressed their dissent to Federalism should be taken with a grain of salt. They have been among those traditional politicians who keep on bringing our country to stagnation and ruin, to disorder and reverse in direction. No doubt they are among the beneficiaries of Smartmatic Electoral Fraud who are irredeemably just awful in every way. They are among those who will never free us from the practical end, which is freedom from the bondage of things with the peace it brings, where all in all, even from their control and exploitation, Federalism is a means to its end.

From the present system of government controlled by Imperial Manila Presidential System (IMPS) as against the PRRD proposed Federalism, the dominant note is freedom - the liberty of the individual Region/State from the Manila Imperial bondage, and the empowerment of the ordinary people from oppression. Hereunder is the brief but concise illustration.

There are 17 administrative Regions, 145 Cities, and 1489 Municipalities in the Philippines. In these respective areas, each has its own customs and traditions, religious beliefs, idiosyncrasies, different growth and therefore, different needs, different priorities in the kinds of organizational structures and facilities, e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies needed for the operation of a society, as well as the employment of personnel and the respective Regional Directors to control the Region.

All these matters of concern above-mentioned are handled and controlled nationally by the IMPS under the present system of government. Verily, what those that oppose to Federalism really want is to keep the respective Regions with no choice but to bow, bow, and bow because we depend on them about anything and everything for development and progress. They always want to treat us as mendicants, as parasites whose existence depends on the mercy and charity of another.

Federalism is not promoting divisiveness but instead empowering every Region and its people to have sovereignty of its own, work for its own, shaped and developed its Region on its own according to its culture, customs and traditions, and conduct its political and economic affairs according to what is best for the welfare and development of their constituents. This is actually in line with the rallying point of JFK—ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country. This is for each Region and the people being able to stand on their own two feet and minimize the burden of the government to dispense itself from interfering, intruding, and meddling in the affairs of the Regions. By then, the government can confine itself to issues of national concerns, like National Security and defense against foreign invaders, terrorism, and foreign relations.

Surely, it is not divisiveness but liberation; it is not a dictatorship but initiative and self-motivation; it is not destructive but it is the use of creative power for a creative purpose, and it is not drifting away but it is creating our own path and making a trail for others to follow.

Frankly, FEDERALISM is like when the rainy season takes hold, it very quickly brings a close to the seemingly incessant days of heat, dust, and molten red horizon. The land is rejuvenated springing to new life.

FEEL THE SUPREME IN THE INSIGNIFICANT

The Electoral sabotage treacherously vectored by the COMELEC officials in every election has been the massacre of the sanctity of our right to choose our leaders. They resulted in the emergence of leaders who are tottering on sanity’s edge that brought our country to economic doldrums and turmoil as we were illuminated by the light of false fires.

To my fellow countrymen, the time has long gone for us to hold our COMELEC officials responsible for always shitting on us, of the atrocities and injustices in our country. Without exception, every official in the COMELEC was criminal and delinquent. And those who seemingly condone them are more harmful than they are.

The intent and subliminal context in which the electoral fraud was vociferously done, the COMELEC officials doing them in revelry of celebratory pride, their stream of consciousness is to spit in the face of all Filipinos as worthless idiotic culture of cowards, and in the face of our heritage — an insult that is accompanied by the awkward action of the graceless swipe. If we condemn these twat show presenter as the social pariah, we must walk our talk by backing up our words with actions.

As there can never be two perfumes in one flower, there must be only one objective for the Filipinos to achieve. We the Filipino people who are the sovereign power from whom their aspirations, sentiments, and desires the Constitution was promulgated and from which all laws, powers, and authority to govern emanate, must get our acts together for one specific goal—dismantle all the officials of the COMELEC and change its name and logo. It is time to draw lines and we determine that the right time is now, otherwise, by procrastination, we will miss the train. Let’s unleashed our indignation in full-screen demonstration rally like a billion blades of grass dance in time with one wind, as we must direct discipline to every public official to toe the line to set the discord straight.

WHEN GRANDMA GOES TO COURT

In a trial, the prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand who was an older woman. Then he asked Mrs. Jones, do you know me? She responded, “why, yes I do know you Mr. Williams. I’ve known you since you were a boy, and frankly you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and you talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you’ll never amount to anything more than a two bit-paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?

She again replied, “Why yes, I do. I’ve known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can’t build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.”

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, “If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I’ll send you both to the electric chair.”

THE MOCHA USON AND ANDREW OLIVAR SIMPLE SPECTACLES

This story was told to us by our Mother when I was in elementary. In so long time ago somewhere in the outskirts of a faraway place, a poor family consisting of the couple and their two children a boy and a girl accommodated a decent traveler to their house for the night sleep. A large chicken was prepared for dinner as a gesture of hospitality to their guest. As they started to eat, the mother divided the chicken in this manner: she gave the head and the right leg to the father because he uses his head to plan and he uses his legs to find a living; then she gave the other leg to her son because he uses his legs too with the manual jobs for the family; then she gave the breast to her daughter for when she gets married her breast will nourish her children; and the wings she took them because she is the one who will cover her children when cold, rain, and danger comes; and the soft pack she gave it to their guest.

The foregoing story irrefutably demonstrates that every part of the body symbolizes and represents everything that is complete, indispensable, and the ultimate source of life in the labyrinth of steep and dirty streets for survival. The Federalism jingle of Mocha Uson and Andrew Olivar began as a simple spectacle serving as crowd drawer. However, the gimmick has since taken on a life of its own, transforming what should be a molehill into a mountain built on sediments of compounded errors. The same aroused vitriol and exaggerated criticisms as they vehemently resisted the association of Federalism with the body parts of human beings, which was triggered by the media.

There are a number of factual matters in this case requiring incision or excision by the evidentiary scalpel. Contrarywise, such association was even relevant and therefore commendable as it sparks of brilliance in the way it was made. The untarnished truth is that Body parts, be it of humans or animals are always the bases for anything that is designed to function in whatever useful way you want it and all inventions on earth that we can find were patterned from the body parts of different creatures. Therefore, the criticisms are but puerile dialectics and conclusions devoid of rational support.

These critics cannot afford to be disrespectful and dare to talk with an unguarded tongue. They should know that it will take more than their mere filibuster, grandstanding, and unreliable criticism to lend an aura of respectability and credibility to their accusations against Mocha Uson and Andrew Olivar. They only demonstrated that their mindset was fraught with shortsightedness and timidity. They seem to cross that line between discernment and judgment so easily because they quickly devalue or write off those people as less valuable. They exclude them from the status that they feel privileged alone to occupy. This is a pharisaical attitude to adopt. Someone who is pharisaical preaches one thing and then does another — not a good trait for politicians or even the media practitioners.

PUT ON YOUR BIG-BOY PANTS FOR THE HEAVEN SAKE AND KNOW THAT YOU’RE WAY BELOW WHERE YOU SHOULD BE.

I MADE THESE WORDS TO THE FILIPINOS

I think it’s all across the nation that the COMELEC has been a miserable fiasco where the officials from top to bottom have used their power and their position to really abuse the electorates in any number of ways and that has simply got to stop. And that will end when like the Gordian knot of yore; all of them including the name COMELEC are ultimately unbound through one fell swoop of the sword.

The peoples’ stern warning intended to be taken seriously and committed to both heart and memory, the COMELEC should have been more solicitous in its task to steer clear of blunders, especially their repetitions, and to keep the election be rightfully and lawfully done. But the COMELEC again in 2016, egregiously demonstrates its apparent incorrigibility as exhibited in the hearing on July 31, 2016, on record showing res ipsa loquitur, a sinister pattern of bad faith to favor the chosen candidates therein for money and to foist fraud upon our country.

Res ipsa loquitor (the thing speaks for itself). The questioned actuation of the COMELEC and the attendant circumstances brook no explanation consistent with good faith or lack of malice and must be counted as constitutive of a Capital offense. Under the circumstances apropos the COMELEC, there was an inexplicable series of deceptions bereft of any redeeming feature and signifying fraud in every election.

I mean we’re not gonna be playing deaf and blind of these deceptions done to the Filipinos forever. They think it’s a big joke I mean all of them have made charitably false statements about their dealings with the people. They obviously don’t care. And you know what consequences have the Filipinos suffered so far while all the COMELEC officials keep laughing all the way to the bank.

It will not do, however, to dispose of the controversy by simply declaring the administrative culpability to these people in the COMELEC upon a matter literally dealing with life and death. It would surely leave hanging or in suspended animation the underlying issue of deception, fraud, and flaunting with justice and the law. Wherefore, the Filipino people as the sovereign power of the state where all government authorities emanate from them, we will compel the DU30 government to abolish the present COMELEC and create another commission to take charge of the elections.

 

PUBLISHED IN THE SUN.STAR CAGAYAN DE ORO NEWSPAPER ON AUGUST 11, 2009. PALASAN: HEROIC ACT

HEROES, I mean those who are publicly recognized, are men who liberate the nation. National heroes have their feats granted an imprimatur by the state.

Yet, no hero, not even the only national hero, Jose Rizal, could claim to be the sole author of freedom from Spain. Neither Cory Aquino nor Cardinal Sin could be attributed as the only pillars of Edsa I.

If at all, the recognized heroes earn their stature for being the rallying personalities during upheavals. This is not to downplay the sacrifices these heroes endured.

But any change, to effect at all, needs the heroic acts of the people themselves. Imagine Cory and Cardinal Sin without the people gathering at Edsa.

Sporadic acts of heroism, though unrecognized, more often, spell the difference between success and failure of any upheaval.

Unfortunately, history has been written in the prism of the macro, of the big names in our history. The Juan de la Cruces, they who after all, decide the outcome of the struggle deserve the accolade or if not, even a footnote in the pages of history. Without these footnotes, history as written portrays only the flip-side of reality.

Atty. Abeto A. Salcedo Jr., a native Cagayanon, deserves a footnote.

Remember the Col. Alexander Noble siege of the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters in Camp Evangelista on October 4, 1990?

Col. Noble overran the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters. He did so without a whit of resistance from the then Camp Commander Brigadier General Miguel Sol.

While we had a general who reneged from his sworn duty, an ordinary citizen took the courage. Atty. Salcedo, at about 11 o’clock in the morning of October 5, 1990 drove his 125 Yamaha motorcycle and went inside the 4th ID Camp. He went straight to the building known as the Commander’s White House.

There, he met Col. Noble. After pleasantries, Col. Noble elaborated on why he was in the camp. Accordingly, the rebel soldiers were there just to talk to Gen. Sol but were surprised when the latter just abandoned the camp.

During the conversation, a certain Col. Erfie interrupted and reported that there was no food for lunch that day, the firing pins of the canons and arms were removed, the ammunitions were hidden, and the mutineers were already fatigue from lack of sleep and food.

Atty. Salcedo, who was once connected with the Judge Advocate General Office (Jago) of the military, knew the value of the information he just unwittingly heard in the unguarded moments of the rebel leaders.

Fearful for his life but without losing composure and calm, he immediately excused himself from the two rebel leaders. Thereafter, he relayed the information to Senator Nene Pimentel.

Unexpectedly, Atty. Salcedo was asked to brief the marines at Lumbia airport of the situation of the rebels in Camp Evangelista.

Col. Noble’s group was given an ultimatum. Otherwise, the battalion of marines would assault them by 4:30 dawn of October 6, 1990.

The military intelligence gathered by Atty. Salcedo was of paramount importance.

The formidable weapon for bluff of the rebels would be: that they had the possession and control of the 4th ID Camp, one and the biggest military camp in Northern Mindanao; that with all the canons and arsenals available therein, they can last in battle till kingdom come; and that in the course of the battle disastrous collateral damage would necessarily result.

With the information gathered by Atty. Salcedo, the rebels could not play poker against the government. Their weakness was unmasked. They had no ace under their sleeves.

At 2:30 dawn of October 6, 1990, before the ultimatum deadline, Col. Noble and his followers surrendered peacefully. No gun was fired. No blood was shed.

Almost two decades had passed before Atty. Abeto shared his experience in his blogsite http://realtruestories.blogspot.com. Stories like these, although long overdue, deserve notice and recognition.

Stories like these have the effect of uplifting the spirits and of sowing hope in the hearts of even the Juan de la Cruces, that yes, we can be heroes in the grand parade of history.